HK govt scraps plan to tie vaccination to FDH visa

The Hong Kong government has shelved its plan to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for foreign domestic helpers seeking to apply for a work visa or to renew their contracts in the city.

Also, it plans to allow the city's kindergarten and school students to return to the campus in full strength for truncated classes later this month.

Speaking before her weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday (May 11), Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the decision was made after the government assessed public health risks and consulted Indonesian and Filipino consular officials regarding the feasibility and necessity of such a move.

Instead, the city's 370,000 foreign domestic helpers would need to undergo a second round of mandatory testing which will last from Saturday to May 31, Lam said.

The first round ended on Sunday and helped identify three patients carrying mutated strains of the coronavirus.

Just like in the first round, the helpers who are fully vaccinated at least 14 days before the second round starts are exempted, Lam said.

Asked whether the second round would be a cost-effective exercise, Lam said: "I hope no case is found in the second round. This will help reassure us. This is not a question of cost-effectiveness. It is prudence a government pursues in the face of a public health crisis."

Hong Kong logged only one imported COVID-19 case on Tuesday (May 11), the CE said. It marks the fourth straight day of no local infection.

As the local outbreaks seem to have come under control, the government plans to allow half-day on-campus classes for all students at the city's kindergartens and primary and secondary schools, Lam said. She said the new arrangement would likely come into force on May 24.

Currently, up to two-thirds of all students enrolled in a school are allowed on the campus for half-day classes.

(Source: China Daily)